Development Set to Sprout in West Farms

By

Gabby Warshawer

Updated Jan. 11, 2013 2:54 p.m. ET

After years of preparation, developers expect to break ground by this summer on the largest private residential project in the Bronx in decades, a 10-building complex that will eventually include around 1,300 apartments.

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A rendering of buildings planned on Boone Avenue in West Farms
Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal

The apartment buildings will rise in the Crotona Park East and West Farms section of the South Bronx, mostly in an area that is bordered by the Sheridan Expressway. It will be built on blocks that are now dominated by warehouses, the majority of which are no longer in use.

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The development has broad support among city elected officials and agencies. Some community members have raised questions about whether it will bring an unwelcome element of gentrification by displacing residents who currently live there, but there was only one vote in the City Council against the rezoning that cleared the way for the project.

To the chagrin of the city's graffiti aficionados, it will also involve demolishing a few blocks of buildings on Boone Avenue that are emblazoned with colorful graffiti and sometimes referred to as "the Bronx Wall of Fame."

Signature Urban Properties is developing the first phase of the project along with Monadnock Construction, both based in New York.

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A park near the development under renovation.
Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal

One of Signature's managing principals and founders is Gifford Miller, who was defeated in the 2005 Democratic mayoral primary and left electoral politics at the end of his term as City Council speaker later that year.

Signature began working on the project, Compass Residences, in 2007. Mr. Miller said he believes the development will "strengthen the surrounding residential community by transforming a barren industrial area."

Local politicians expect the project to bring life to a desolate area in need of revitalization.

"I am excited that this new development will soon break ground," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in a statement. "I cannot wait to see West Farms transformed into a thriving, dynamic, mixed-income residential community with affordable housing and retail space."

Mr. Diaz and City Council Member Joel Rivera contributed a total of $2.5 million in discretionary funding for the first phase of the project. The first two buildings will be built under Department of Housing Preservation and Development programs, and all of the units will be rented to people making less than the area median income.

"We are 100% committed to this project being 100% affordable to the community at large," said Mr. Miller.

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Graffiti along the section of Boone Avenue between 172nd and 173rd streets.
Kevin Hagen for The Wall Street Journal

The first, $70 million phase of the project will consist of two buildings with 237 rental units. As the project moves ahead and additional financing is in place, the developers intend to begin work on additional phases every couple of years, hoping to complete the 10 buildings in about six years. In total, the project is expected to cost roughly $350 million.

The area was rezoned in 2011 from only allowing industrial uses so Signature's development could be constructed. The Compass Residences buildings will rise as high as 15 stories, while most surrounding blocks have low- to mid-rise housing.

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Signature hopes that future phases of the project will include home-ownership options. In addition to housing, the development will have two large, landscaped open spaces and a children's playground, and there is a possibility that a public elementary school will be incorporated into the complex. There will also be retail spaces in the first phase's buildings, likely food service and a pharmacy.

Meanwhile, the city is currently studying ways to ease complaints about the 1.25-mile expressway.

Signature hopes that pedestrian crossings to the other side of the highway will be improved, allowing greater access to Starlight Park. The public park is in the process of being renovated and will soon reopen.

Some are wary of aspects of the development, including members of the South Bronx community group Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice.

"We support development and there are many things about Signature's plans that are good, but we don't know that we will be promised affordability" for the apartment units, said Youth Ministries Executive Director David Shuffler. Mr. Miller says that Signature "will be working within the city's existing affordable housing programs to ensure long-term affordability."

Mr. Shuffler also said that developments such as Signature's could "change the fabric of an existing community" with gentrification that forces out residents now living in the area. He noted that the warehouses with graffiti that will be demolished are "iconic."

Eric Felisbret, author of "Graffiti New York," a history of local graffiti, said that the industrial buildings in the project's footprint that will be torn down have been a brick canvas for graffiti artists since 2006. The buildings are likely the biggest and best-known site for graffiti in the Bronx and have attracted international attention among graffiti artists, he said.

Signature managing principal Robert Frost said the firm hopes that a section of the development will have space for organized street art.

Mr. Felisbret said that was heartening, even though he would be sad to no longer see the graffiti in its current incarnation.

"A lot of graffiti artists are older and would probably use a space [provided] there since they don't want to paint illegally, but it would probably put a limit on spontaneous creativity," according to Mr. Felisbret.

Corrections & Amplifications An earlier version of this article incorrectly quoted author Eric Felisbret as saying that industrial buildings to be torn down for the West Farms development had been used as a canvas by graffiti artists since 1996.

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